Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Has the 3rd Court of Appeals found a solution to the liquidity crisis?

Speaking of Judge Diane Henson and the Third Texas Court of Appeals, she spoke up recently to criticize her colleagues' decision in the Tom DeLay money laundering case - a ruling that's an almost caricatured, extremist example of appellate judges identifying the outcome they want, then crafting a contorted opinion to get that result.

In order to exonerate defendants in the Tom DeLay money laundering case, a three-judge panel (all Republicans, Henson is a Democrat) came to the conclusion that "money laundering" under Texas' law does not include transactions involving checks! I can't imagine that standard applied to any other type of money laundering, can you?

Now that I think of it, though, perhaps the judges hoped to solve the nation's raging liquidity crisis with this decision? It might work! Given the current credit crunch, perhaps if Texas excludes checks from its money laundering statutes it would encourage billions in new deposits from drug dealers around the planet into Texas banks and miraculously save the economy. I'm sure that was their intention, don't you think? ;)

Let's see...I'll take my ill-gotten gain and deposit it in an account for a legit enterprise (a laundromat, for instance) and then withdraw the funds with a certified check made out to another legit enterprise (a cleaning company, for instance)and deposit said funds in that account.

That's how money laundering works and that's how DeLay's scheme worked.

In light of the current credit crisis I am surprised why no one has asked why there are so many sub-prime loans and why so many wind up without access to the mainstream financial system. Well here is my opinion, it is not the main reason but I feel it is a contributory factor. If you look at the money laundering regulations the penalties which can be applied to banks or finacial instiutions can be huge. I belive they are 5 times the amount of the money sized from an account. Now it is bad enough setting up a bank where some low life can walk in with a gun, but what happens if the person who is walking in with a gun has a court order or warrent saying it is legal to do so? The main banks walk away from those areas with the consequence that people who would be able to get finance are unable to do so and are left to the sub-prime sharks.

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